About South Africa
The southernmost country of the African continent, South Africa is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. South Africa entirely surrounds Lesotho in the east. A large plateau dominates the centre of the country, with rolling hills falling to plains and the coast.
Region
Language
Afrikaans English Ndebele Pedi Sotho South African Sign Language Swati Tsonga Tswana Venda Xhosa Zulu
Population
59.9m (2022)
Area
1,220,813 square kilometres
High Commissioner
His Excellency Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo
Capital
The Parliament is in Cape Town, making it the legislative capital. The President and Cabinet meet in Pretoria, making it the administrative capital. The Supreme Court of Appeal is in Bloemfontein, making it the judicial capital
Joined Commonwealth
1931, on independence from Britain. South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961 then re-joined in 1994
Top Exports
Episode guests
Nkateko Masinga
Nkateko Masinga is an award-winning South African writer, performance poet and scholar whose interests traverse the intersections between narrative medicine, life writing and social justice. She is intrigued by the stories of individuals who exist at the margins of society and considers herself a ‘dangerous woman’. Her current work explores the complex and often tumultuous relationships that daughters have with their mothers. Nkateko is a graduate of the University of Iowa’s 2021 International Writing Program (IWP) and was shortlisted for the 2023 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry. Her latest book, Daughter Wound, was published by UK publisher Hazel Press in April 2024 and was named Book of the Week at the London Review Bookshop in its week of release.
Seven Lessons on Phosphorescence
I
Remember all you have been taught about fire:
ceremonial bonfire, Dante’s Inferno, Hades,
the Burn Wounds practical in the skills lab.
II
Remind yourself that this is not an airplane:
There will be no oxygen mask descending
from above, no option to stabilize yourself.
III
Run to the Pediatrics Ward. Think about what
you learnt in physics: energy transfer, speed.
Hold children in your arms. Cry when alone.
Hold smoke in your mouth. Cough when alone.
IV
Make your mandatory check-in phone call.
Say to your partner, Honey I’ll be home late.
Don’t wait up. Say nothing about the flames.
Remember that this fire is not unlike you;
fluorescent and phosphorescent; burning
beyond the call of duty. The scabs remain.
V
Watch the fire die down. No more combustion.
No more perceptible heat. The scabs remain.
Some evidence is indestructible. Speak.
VI
Tell your lover what the fire did to you.
Count on your fingers the ones it took.
Stop holding smoke in your mouth. Heal.
VII
Tend to what remains in the aftermath;
reestablish the scaffolding of your body,
brittle but relearning the beauty of water.
Heritage
I am rewriting my mother’s story on my face
See the quotation marks holding my smile together?
Even my laughter is hers, not mine
Be careful how you say your own mother’s name
how you articulate your blood
You and your mother were once one person
a question mark in each ear
born to listen to her
Everything about you says
I am telling someone else’s story
I am still not sure about mine
Make sure you are reading the history book
being written in your childhood home
Collecting recipes too
because age is engraving farewell messages
into Mama’s skin
and how will you sustain yourself
when she is gone?
The words on her earlier pages
are disappearing as you read them
Your mother is forgetting herself
One day she will not be there
when you turn back to a part of her story
you enjoyed, hoping she will read it again
hoping to hear her laughter echo across the room
as she throws her head back
One day she will not be here to speak
so you will repeat her words to your children
just to hear her voice in yours
